Perry wants more of the same

Chris Perry believes consistency is the key for Saints as they aim to repeat last weekend's success when they face Cardiff at St Mary's tomorrow.

The experienced defender has become part of an established back line for Saints in recent weeks, forming a strong partnership with Dutch defender Jan-Paul Saeijs.

Speaking to saintsfc.co.uk, Perry said, "When you play with the same back four for a few games you do tend to get that understanding because players become more comfortable as they know how each other is going to play. Jan-Paul has obviously settled in very well and Rudi has come back into the side which has helped things to settle recently and I think we are seeing the benefit of that now," the 35-year-old stated.

Saeijs and Perry haven't taken long to learn each other's game and the former Spurs and Luton man admits he has been slightly surprised by the Dutchman's impact.

"When he first came in I wasn't too sure if anyone had heard of him! But to be fair, he's come in and and he's done fantastically well, he's a big lad who attacks the ball which lets me cover the ground behind. We suit each other in that respect and we dovetail well together."

Despite last weekend's emphatic win over Preston North End, Perry has insisted that preparations for the visit of Cardiff have been no different.

"There's been a buzz about the place since last week's win and the lads have been up on a bit of a high cloud ahead of training but now everyone is back down to earth again and concentrating on Cardiff and a few other things that we've been working on as well," he confessed.

"It was nice to enjoy it but we've gone away and regrouped and the players have come in today with our minds firmly set on Cardiff and how we can win the game.

"It's too soon to say that we've turned the corner because one result doesn't make a season, but performance-wise it was an improvement which is something that you could say of the last three or four games.

"Up until Saturday we perhaps hadn't picked up the points that we deserved but now we've been given alot of confidence by last week's win and we can approach the Cardiff game in high spirits."

Tomorrow's game sees former Saints boss Dave Jones return to the south coast club which he managed during the late nineties, and Perry says the team have a very good idea of what to expect.

"Dave Jones' sides are always very well organised and they don't give alot away, but at the same time I don't think they will ever be a free-flowing team that scores alot of goals because they tend to win games by small margins.

"I think that they are a very strong side who are difficult to break down and teams don't beat them by many more than the odd goal, so it's going to be a tough game, but as I say if we can replicate the form of last Saturday then I can't see any reason why we can't go on and win the game.

"We felt that we were unfortunate not to win at their place and they nicked a late winner in the last minute from a debatable throw-in, so we all felt a bit hard done by at the time and we more than matched them on the day but hopefully we can come out and beat them this time."

After struggling to find any form at home this season, another three points in front of the St Mary's faithful would be very welcome, and Perry is relishing the test of facing one of the division's high-flyers.

"At the moment I think we would rather play teams at the top rather than the bottom because we saw how Preston last week came down here to attack us and when teams do that they allow us a bit more space and freedom to play in, so we will also be going into the game at Ipswich and Birmingham full of confidence for that reason."

Perry also took a moment to praise the Saints fans, and he believes that they can play a key role once again during this weekend's match.

"The fans can play a massive role for us this weekend and the more noise that they make and the more supportive that they are, the more the lads are going to react to that.

"We need to do something on the pitch to get them going and we believe that we can do that if we can replicate the performance that we did against Preston and I'm sure that the fans will be right behind us again on Saturday."

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Perry has been fantastic for us this season. His experience has been a major plus point and he's formed a very strong partnership with JP at the back. I can only hope that the pair of them stay fit for the remainder of the season as we are starting to look more solid in defence. No doubt the return of Skacel at LB has something to do with that too.

Perry has been fantastic for us this season. His experience has been a major plus point and he's formed a very strong partnership with JP at the back. I can only hope that the pair of them stay fit for the remainder of the season as we are starting to look more solid in defence. No doubt the return of Skacel at LB has something to do with that too.

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